Empire WatchAnalysis of current world affairs with focus on gloabal struggle for social and economic justice and against racism, war, imperialism and oppression much of it brought on by US Empire and its allies

Ukraine: A New Level of US Brazenness and Media Deception

Destabilization and overthrow of governments by causing mayhem and chaos and death and destruction is nothing new for the corporate government of the United States. But, now, it’s doing it with incredible and unprecedented brazenness and shamelessness. What they used to do covertly, they’re now doing openly and even brag about it. Partly, this was brought on by the disappearance and lining up behind their president of the anti-war segment of the population with the election of Obama. Even much of the European population who could not approve of President Bush and his wars, celebrated the new President’s victory, which, in turn, encouraged their governments to line up more eagerly behind their new leader in Washington. Maybe the Nobel Peace Prize Committee knew what they were doing when they granted him the prize. Obama presidency will surely go down in history as a period of a qualitatively new level of bold and naked imperialist aggression and belligerence.

What also has been on display with the recent developments in Ukraine is how closely the US media toes the line and faithfully broadcasts the official government line, presenting Moscow as the culprit and aggressor. Doesn’t Malcolm X’s ageless comment about US “newspapers” ring truer than ever? When CIA backed Nazi protesters were throwing firebombs at the police, US TV personalities were talking about police overreach and overreaction, while trying to hide the fact that the most aggressive and violent of those protesters were neo-Nazis. I’m sure they would feel the same way had those protests been in the US! Then, when the government agreed to an internationally negotiated truce and ordered the police to back off and leave the protest sites, the neo-Nazis with the green light from the CIA, attacked and occupied government buildings. Again, I’m sure the US media would similarly defend the protesters and their actions had the government been “friendly” to US! Then, when the democratically elected President Yanukovych fled to avoid being captured by the violent neo-Nazis, the US media, shamelessly said: “well, he’s gone, so he’s not the president, anymore”. Rachel Maddow of MSNBC, with the typical hypocrisy of Obama worshippers, who used to be “anti-war” and suddenly, overnight, became warmongers and defenders of cold-blooded murder and endless wars, mocked President Putin for insisting that Yanukoviych was still the legitimate President. While neo-Nazi protesters, who after the coup found their way in the coup government and were welcomed and greeted by the US Undersecretary, Victoria Nuland, suddenly became defenders of the central government and condemned protesters in the East! Rachel Maddow, once again, showed why she gets paid by NBC, when she suddenly and shamelessly – the typical shamelessness of Obama worshippers – became defender of a strong central government and called the protesters agents of Moscow! The so-called “free” and “independent” US media (the biggest lie in human history ironically happens to be about the biggest liars of human history) had nothing to report about 46 (at least – some estimates put the number at 116) opponents of the coup government, who were burned alive in a trade union building in Odessa! Rachel Maddow had not even crocodile tears for them.

And for those who continue to refuse to see the facts that clearly point to another shameless and brazen imperialist intervention – made possible by spending $5 billion, as bragged by Victoria Nuland – now comes the cold and irrefutable fact of US corporate role in this vile affair – not by Rachel Maddow’s boss, NBC, but the class of US corporations and their owners, who collectively pay for the likes of Rachel Maddow. Wall Street Journal reported:

“Hunter Biden, a lawyer by training and the younger of the vice president’s two sons, joined the board of directors of Ukrainian gas firm Burisma Holdings Ltd. this month and took on responsibility for the company’s legal unit, according to a statement issued by the closely held gas producer.

“His appointment came a few weeks after Devon Archer —college roommate of the secretary of state’s [John Kerry] stepson, H.J. Heinz Co. ketchup heir Christopher Heinz—joined the board to help the gas firm attract U.S. investors, improve its corporate governance and expand its operations.”

“Help the gas firm attract U.S. investors”? Nice! Those liberals, including Rachel Maddow, who criticized President Bush for attacking and occupying Iraq – hard to defend the killing of a million people when done by a Republican, I guess – called the war senseless and pointless. They might not have liked to remind their viewers about one of the major reasons for the devastating and inhuman war on the defenseless people of Iraq, but Wall Street Journal, again, reminded its corporate readers after the war that the Secretary of State of the time, Hillary Clinton, went to Iraq and told US investors that Iraq was now open to US investors! Then, the new government of Iraq purchased $16 billion worth of weapons from the US, paid for by Iraqi oil money. So, you see Ms. Maddow, the war wasn’t as “senseless”, as you made it out to be. You just don’t want to reveal the true reasons for such imperialist and criminal interventions.

As, I’ve written in previous articles: there were two major objectives the US was pursuing from their bloody and violent intervention in Ukraine that is continuing to this day: one is to pull the nation under the imperialist economic dominance, by imposing an IMF (International Monetary Fund) loan on it, which comes with mandatory austerity measures, which puts the burden of the loan on working people, impoverishing them further and ends up privatizing and handing the nation’s assets, such as oil and gas, harbors and shipyards and industries and factories, to large Western capitalists, and two: to bring in NATO and turn Ukraine into a military base against Russia, thus blackmailing and militarily surrounding it, to prepare for a future regime change in Russia, herself. And, all the like of Rachel Maddow show to their viewers is President Putin horse riding shirtless!